


Accidents happen- Even to Sherlock Holmes

by 206Bones



Category: Benedict Cumberbatch-Fandom, Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Love, Pain, Setstories, Sickfic, Surgery, knee injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-03-30 15:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3942649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/206Bones/pseuds/206Bones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benedict is filming the new series of Sherlock and they only have a few days to go. Unfortunately, he gets injured on set and tries to hide it at first from the others. Eventually, his doctor- girlfriend takes care of him and it is discussed how filming can proceed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As Benedict was making his way to the set that morning he fiddled his hat out of his pocket and put it on as it was a pretty cold and nasty day. The weather forecast had warned of heavy raining starting in late afternoon and a temperature just above 0 ° Celcius. “What a great day to film a load of out-door shots” Benedict thought to himself “that is really going to add to the mystery of the whole Sherlock Holmes story” he grinned.

  
When he arrived on set everyone was muffled up in warm coats and huddling around the outdoor heaters which the amazing crew had organized last week.

He met Martin when joining him in make-up and he looked really cheerful: “Hey Ben, you alright? It is gonna be a long day, mate”.

“Certainly, how is little Miss. Freeman? Did she recover from losing her first tooth”? he asked sheepishly as he knew Martin’s little daughter had cried quite extensively after having lost her first tooth.  

  “Yeah, she is alright. Got over it pretty quickly as Daddy offered her a nice hot chocolate and an extra-long bedtime-story. That usually works” Martin smiled back before heading off to check in with Mark about some shoots for the day.

Benedict went over to the make-up station before getting changed into Sherlock’s long coat and scarf that he was very grateful for on that day.

As shooting started in an old and rather disgusting looking alleyway somewhere just outside London everything just took its usual way. Martin and Benedict nailed the shot the very first time but ended up doing it again and again to be searching for a better camera position or setting.

They were all very amused though and as it did not rain until lunch everyone trolled off to the food truck in a good mood as the filming was finally catching up to its delay that had been caused by the heavy storming the past few weeks.

During these weeks they had essentially wrapped up all of the interior scenes and now only had a couple of days of filming exteriors to do before this series of Sherlock would be finished shooting wise. This fact of knowing that there would only be a few weeks to go made everyone be even more passionate about the shooting and every member of the crew put in the little bit of extra-effort that produced the wonderful and cheerful atmosphere on set.

  
As lunch was soon over Benedict headed to his trailer just for a few minutes to check on some lines and to respond to an email.

He did so dutifully but as he walked out of his door and locked it he slipped down the few stairs that led to his trailer.

He did not even know what had happened as his foot had just given in and slit across the slippery metal steps.

He soon landed, all gracefully, at the bottom of the stairs in his bum but quickly heaved himself upright after hearing taking and noises coming closer.

He did not want anyone to know of this little mishap and quickly vanished into his trailer again, although he was not able to put any weight on his left leg.

He had somehow twisted his knee awkwardly and it hurt lick crazy.

So his way up these stairs was more of a hobbling and dragging himself than anything else. Finally, sitting on the little ratty couch he could assess the damage and catch his breath as this little falling-then-getting-up-as-fast-as-he-could-performance had been quite exhausting and uncomfortable, if he was honest with himself.

He could feel his knee getting hot and swollen at the second and was barely able to move it. “Shit” he muttered aloud and tried prodding it a little with his fingers.

But as this caused even more discomfit he quickly stopped and only then realized that he was bleeding as well. In all the hurry he had been in to get back into the trailer he did not even notice the wound on his hand.

It was a graze of about the size of a golf ball and it was not very deep but quite dirty and contaminated because he fell into quite some mud. He reluctantly got up and slowly dragged himself over to the sink and let some cold water run over his hand.

He then dried it off and started looking for some band-aids that he knew he had somewhere. He tried putting some weight on his leg and he could walk a little if he just did not think about the pain so much. As he found the band-aid and applied it to his hand he hoped that nobody had witnessed his little, and embarrassing, fall.

He knew what he had to do now though: put on a brave face and get out there and finish the last few days of filming since they were running on a tight schedule. He did not want to be the one messing it all up and killing the wonderful mood the crew had been in these past couple days.

Just in that moment he heard a knock on his door and his PA’s voice asking him to come out as filming would progress now.

He then made his way to the door and slowly descended the steps, quite happy that his PA had already turned her back to him as she otherwise would have seen the grimace on his face that was clearly visible although he tried to conceal it.

He followed her back to the set where everything was being prepared for their next shoot which was Sherlock going to his mind-palace and therefore, luckily for Benedict, only standing on the spot and waving his arms through the air.

He positioned himself right opposite Martin, who pointed to his band-aid with an amused look but did not say anything as Benedict was just putting on his gloves on that would hide it from the camera.

As he came to think of it nobody seemed to have noticed his little fall and everyone was just too busy to see he was putting all his weight on his good leg.

Soon, his thoughts were interrupted by the call of “Action” which set off the scene and Ben started rattling of one of the monster monologues Mark and Steven always apologized for in advance. The scene made him forget about the discomfort in his leg and he only realized it was there when he and Martin, alias Sherlock and John, dashed off and Ben had to use all his strength not to limp and show his pain.

“Cut, that is it for today. Great work ladies and gentlemen thank you very much” were Ben’s relieve that night as it was decided not to continue filming at around 8:30 pm due to the heavy rain that had soaked everything and everyone to the bone.

Ben stayed behind in the tent with the others for a little while so that most people would have left when he made his way back to his trailer.

The pain in his knee had actually worsened and he did not know if he could still conceal it and so he only walked back to his trailer very slowly and carefully, taking one step at a time and being more than happy when he finally arrived at his trailer, stumbled up the stairs and let himself sink onto the couch.

Finally, he could elevate his knee, as he knew he should have done right after the injury to prevent the swelling. He also knew that applying ice would not only help with the pain but also reduce the swelling but because he did not have any around this was not an option.

After having rested his head against the wall for a couple of minutes he made the decision that he should phone Alexa, his girlfriend who happened to be a doctor and ask her if she could pick him up. The two of them had been together for almost five years now and Alexa was working in a major London hospital as a trauma surgeon who had just completed her training a couple months ago and was now a consultant and very happy with her new task.

As he was dialing her number he thought about what he was going to tell her. ”Hey darling, how was your day”? he set the conversation of in a regular way that would not let her suspect anything. “Fine, I just got off. Did you get wet today? I only saw all that rain from my window”. “Actually, yes, I did. I was wondering if you would want to pick me up, sweetie. We could get some dinner then and just cuddle up on the couch. What do you think about it?” “Oh Ben, you are a lucky man I did not take to tube today but the car. Where are you again? This little alley in south London we went to a couple of weeks ago right?” “Yes, you are a genius. I complement your brain.” He said teasingly and hung up as she said that she would be there in thirty minutes.

While he was waiting he changed from his still wet costume into casual jeans and a sweater and had a first chance to asses his knee properly. It was all swollen around the sides and a bit warm. He could already see the line of a blue hematoma drawing its way down the inner side of his knee. “Shit, if there is any bleeding in the joint I am pretty screwed” he thought to himself. He had been reading Alexa’s medical books before the new series had started filming and was glued to them. They were really interesting and he always asked her a bunch of questions about her day at work and all the surgeries she did.

Just as he was thinking about a back surgery she told him about some weeks ago he was interrupted by her knock on the door as she was already entering. She looked like she had had quite a rough day, she had left their flat at around five and has not been home since.

Probably, Ben thought to himself, she had been running around the hospital all day and had not had a chance to sit down in hours. His feelings were confirmed as she lowered herself onto the couch with a sigh and closed her eyes laying her head on his chest.

“Rough day?” he asked her as he was padding her head with his hand. “Yes, quite busy to tell the truth. Three surgeries and a whole A&E full of injured people. But wait, what is that? Did you get hurt?” she asked with a sharp tone as she saw the band-aid on his hand and that he had quickly lowered his leg from the chair he had elevated it on as she had entered. “No, nothing too bad. I just slipped down the stairs of my trailer, that is it. No big deal, actually.” He tried to calm her but it did not work and Alexa was already in doctor mode, kneeling in front of him and rolling up his loosely fitting jeans.

“Oh Ben, what the hell did you do to your knee? Don’t you dare tell me it happened any earlier than a couple minutes ago!” she said decisively as she was starting to examine his knee with the skilled hands of a doctor. She pushed it to the side and Ben hissed in pain, even though he tried to cover it. “Ben, when did this happen? It is really swollen, too swollen to only have happened recently. How long has it been? Have you told anyone?”.

“Of course I did not tell anyone.Do you know what that would have ment for shooting? We are almost done and there are only a couple of days to go, you know. They would not have let me do it but everyone was so happy it was going to well.” He trailed off as he saw her angry look.

“How long, Ben, when did it happen?” she asked sternly. “Right after lunch, I slipped. I only just had time to elevate it a bit and I did not have any ice. That is why it is so swollen”. “So you actually kept filming on this? You really should not have. I think you have torn your MCL darling, that is quite an injury”.

“You think I tore anything? Really?” Ben asked not wanting to believe it. “Yes, I think so. The joint is very instable on the inner side which usually is a pretty safe indicator for a torn MCL or, at least, a partial tear. Usually, I would take patients to get an MRI done and then put them on crutches for a couple weeks. But, she started to get louder as Ben was about to protest, I think you will not come to the hospital with me tonight, will you?” she asked sitting down next to him again.

“You know me too well. I would actually be very happy if we could just go home and I could give it a rest tonight and see how it is tomorrow. Can we do that?” he asked sweetly with his nicest smile that he knew Alexa just could not resist.

“Fine, I think as you already waited a whole day to even elevate it, it will do no further harm going home and waiting a bit more. Come on” she sighed as she extended an arm for him to hold onto. He did allow her to pull him up and they slowly made their way to Alexa’s car that was parked nearby.

On their way home they stopped at their favorite Chinese take-out and picked up some dinner. But before Ben could dig into his long anticipated nudels he had to let Alexa put a bag of ice and some Arnika on his knee and arrange it on the sofa with a big cushion underneath it.

“What would I do without you?” he sighed as she handed him a fork and kissed her on the cheek. “Rott and die, probably. Oh and never see a doctor for anything, I suppose” she laughed back at him and then they started eating and laughing about Ben’s story about Martin’s daughter.

When the movie they had watched was over though, Alexa turned towards him with a stern look. “Ben, you know that we have to go to the hospital and get that checked out right?” she asked softly and knew that he would not want to go. It would proof to be quite a bit of work to get him into a hospital allowing an examination.

“Do we really have to? I would rather not. Can’t you just take care of it at home and I will just have something against the pain tomorrow morning and in a few days it will be back to normal….” He trailed off as she saw her face. “Well, actually that won’t work, sweetie. Your MCL is at least partially, if not fully torn and that is an injury that will not just get better within a few days. You need to be completely off that leg and give it some rest.Not taking enough time out to heal with injuries like that can lead to cartilage damage and this can result in arthritis which, believe me, you do not want to have. I should have taken you to UCL right away actually” she continued but he soon chimed in again

“But you did not. And it can certainly wait until shooting is over can’t it?” was his hopeful reply but his hopes were soon shattered by the disapproving look on his doctor’s face. “No it can not wait. And anyway, how do you think you could do any running or let alone walking during shoots?” she said as she had picked up and read through his schedule that told here there were some chase-the-criminal scenes down for the next days.

“But I will offer you a deal” she continued as she saw his sad face and his eyes widened at that. “We get up early tomorrow, go to UCL, no one will recognize or see you then, and we will have an MRI done and see was all is damaged okay?” “Okay, and then?” he agreed.

“I will get you to set and come with you to inform everybody of your little mishap. And then you can discuss with Mark and Steven and the lot of them how to proceed filming. Oh and just a warning: you will probably get crutches so don’t hold out for too much hope of not having anyone notice. You will have to tell the people on set” she explained the plan.

It seemed pretty proficient to Ben, even though he did not particularly like it. He does not fancy showing weakness, in the workplace at least, and was no big fan of people fussing all about him and trying to help with every step as he would know that this would happen tomorrow. “Well, I do not think I have any other options, if my personal doctor gets all serious right?” he smiled at her and let out a sigh at the same time.

“Come on, let us go to bed then and get some sleep before this ordeal starts” he grinned as he pushed himself off the couch and on his unsteady legs. “An ordeal?” Alexa asked laughing while helping him up. “You are acting as if we would torture you in the hospital. But it is actually a very nice place, you know?” she smiled as she was helping him hobble across the sitting room over to their bedroom.

Once in bed, Alexa propped his leg up again and made sure he was comfortable before leaning into his chest and falling asleep fast. The next morning came soon and sudden as their alarm clock went off at 4:30 am to give them enough time to take care of everything before Ben would have to be on set at around 8:30 am.

When they pulled up in front of the hospital Alexa worked in, it seemed totally empty and there was no one to bother them as they slowly made their way to the entrance. Alexa had already phoned with a few colleague so everything was ready as they came in and he could go to radiology right away. Alexa did not let him walk there though but pulled out a wheelchair from a room and looked at him so sternly that he did not dare say anything and lowered himself into it without protesting.

Down the long corridors they went and Alexa told him where her office was, the staffroom, and they way to her favorite operation theatre. In the radiology department they were met by Alan, a friendly guy Ben had met before at a party.

He explained what was about to happen and helped him settle down in the scanner and after it was all done wheeled him to an empty examination room where he waited until Alexa and a colleague came in with an iPad in hand. On the iPad they showed him his scans and Alexa started explaining “This structure here is the MCL. It should be one smooth string but as you can see it is not.

It is fully torn, which is what we had expected from the symptoms presented. This kind of injury, especially since you tore your left meniscus slightly too, needs to be fixed surgically, sorry Ben.

There is no other way though.“ Ben had prepared himself for that mentally a little while he was lying in the huge scanner but now it was definite. He would not have cared so much if it would not mix up filming so gravely. “But, as there is still extensive swelling we have decided that it would not hurt to postpone the surgery until you are done filming, about a week or so” Alexa’s colleague said and that actually lightened Benedict’s mood rather extensively.

“I will now go an fetch you some crutches and a leg brace so you stay off of the leg and all other details can be discussed later, I think. Alexa can explain the surgery to you and we will get it all settled for in a couple of days” he remarked and then left the room only to return a few minutes later with a set of black under-arm crutches and a stiff leg brace. Suddenly a beeping sound emerged and Alex’s colleague excused himself and hurriedly left the room.

“You really should not put any weight on the leg, you know. It could lead to further damage!” Alexa warned him as she fastened the black brace all around his upper lower-leg and lower upper-leg so that it would hold his knee still. “This you should wear at all times and apply ice as regularly as you can. Elevating it also is a good idea she continued and Ben started to laugh at the different tone her voice had taken. It always took this tone when she was working and he adored this.

He pulled her closely to him and kissed her passionately thanking her for the good care she was taking of him. She smiled and handed him the crutches to start hobbling to the car. “I promise I will be a good boy. I will not over do it and all.” He assured her as she dropped him off at the location of the day. She had originally wanted to come with him and explain the situation as she knew he would spare details and make it seem better than it was but she had just gotten a call from the hospital that a major trauma was to come in shortly and therefore rushed back and did her job.

Ben stumbled out of the car and slowly made his way onto set. He was a little early and knew that Mark would already be there, all tucked away in his trailer. Without meeting anyone he made his way over to the trailer and clumsily got up the steps in front of it.

After having knocked and been accepted to enter, he took a deep and soothing breath and opened. When Mark looked up from his desk he was quite shocked, to tell the truth. Seeing Ben standing there in front of him heavily leaning on his crutches and a leg that was secured in a brace he stood up so quickly he nicked over the cup of tea standing on his desk and spilled the brown liquid all over his papers. “Dammit, Ben what the hell happened to you?” he asked as he tried wiping his desk clean. “Sit down, man. And tell me” he commanded and Ben sat down and started telling him that he had just torn his MCL a little bit and that he could continue filming, Alexa had approved of it all. “Oh Ben, you are giving us quite the time" was Mark’s only reply and with a sigh he called Steven and Sue and started telling them of what had happened and asked them to come in so that they could discuss how to proceed.

“Well, you can stand can’t you?” Mark asked. “Sure I can. I can do all I want but not run, basically” Ben replied fast and in a tone that almost made Mark feel sorry for him. And yes, as he thought to himself, Ben looked quite miserable.

Mark knew that Ben loved his work more than everything and was very irritated when his body failed him. “Benedict, I know you did not get injured on purpose. It is okay. We will find a way to deal with it. Just go up to make up and get ready will you? Then we could do some of the scenes where you are just standing around until we figured something out. But do you need anything? A chair to prop the leg up on set would probably not hurt eh?” he grinned and slapped Ben encouragingly on the shoulder as he left the trailer and made his was down the stairs again.

“Fuck there dreadful stairs” he thought to himself as he was hobbling down there one hand clinging to the railing, the other holding his crutches. Almost losing his balance, he dropped on of them but luckily Martin came around just that second and picked it up for him. “Cumberbatch, what the actual fuck! What did you do to yourself?” Martin almost shouted at him.

“Hurt my knee a little. Slipped on these damn stairs yesterday.” he said sheepishly and angrily started hobbling off. But Martin soon caught up and looked at him inquisitively. “That is where you hurt your hand, too. Isn’t it? Why didn’t you say anything?” “We still had filming to do” was all Ben managed before he was crowded by a hoard up people, all caring crew members who were shocked by the sight of him and inquired about his health.

“He just got hurt a little bit, now just let him alone you lot” Martin defended Ben and the crowd dismissed itself mumbling and casting worried looks at him. Sighing again deeply Ben sat himself down of the chair at the make-up station and was rather glad that he was not asked any stupid questions anymore.

After a while though, he felt Martin’s eyes on him and knew that he was being rude. “Sorry, Martin. I just don’t know how to deal with this at the moment” he apologized. “Ehh, don’t worry mate. But what exactly means “a little hurt” in your world? Certainly you have crutches and a brace which means that you most likely have been to a hospital. So it is that bad?” he asked carefully.

“Great deduction, Sherlock” Ben smiled back at him and was glad that the mood had lightened up a bit. “Alexa picked me up last night and she took a look at the knee at home and said that the MCL was probably torn. She insisted on taking me to the hospital to get an MRI and so we did that this morning before regular hours started.” Ben explained patiently. “And then? What will you do now?” Martin asked nipping at his coffee.

“Well, the scan confirmed her fist diagnosis and it appears that the MCL is completely torn and she says that this requires surgery. I was able to talk her into postponing it until the end of filming though” he said quickly as he already saw Martin’s mouth open.

“Oh I am sorry man. But better get it fixed up properly than to have any long term effects, right?” “Yes, that is just what Alexa said, too” Ben laughed and happily accepted the coffee his PA was offering him. “Benedict, why didn’t you say anything yesterday? I was just there” she asked sternly and he just shrugged and suddenly looked like a little boy you could never be mad at.

She smiled back at him and asked him if he knew anything of how this day would go now. He had only opened his mouth though to answer as Mark swept in and announced that they would pull a scene that was scheduled to be filmed tomorrow forward and do it today.

That set everyone off into working-mode and Ben started looking at his lines for the day once more. “Oh and we will discuss how it will go the next days over lunch, Ben. Is that alright? The others will come over then, too.” Mark leaned back through the door and said. “Yes, sure. Just don’t make a big fuss about it, please” Ben said in an almost begging tone. Mark smiled back and then turned onto the panning of the day.


	2. And the work continues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benedict and his team need to wrap up filming for the new series of Sherlock but this is a bit more difficult when Benedict is hobbling around on crutches.

It did not take long though for even the last person on set to know that the great Benedict Cumberbatch had an accident and is now hobbling around on crutches.  
There was not one member of crew though that was mad at Ben for getting hurt and his greatest fear proved to be wrong.  
Everyone was very warm and helping him whenever they could and Ben did not even feel as suffocated as he thought he would.  
On scene they had set him up with a chair to sit on and one to put the leg on and got him ice packs and asked if he needed anything. When it came to filming, Ben decided to take the brace off as not even his long coat could hide it very well.  
“But be careful! I don’t want to get an angry phone call from Alexa tonight for letting you do that!” Mark warned him.  
The scene went rather well and Sherlock was not even the main focus as John was viciously fighting with Mycroft and Sherlock just watching gingerly before declaring that he needed to get a move on the Baker Street but not forgetting to teas Mycroft about his diet.  
Whenever there was a little pause, someone quickly brought a chair over so that Ben could sit down for a moment and even though he tried to wave them off in the beginning, he was glad that he could sit down because he did not quite manage not to put any weight at all on his injured leg and it was staring to become very painful again.  
He was pretty worn out after they had filmed a few more scenes and more than happy when someone called everyone to lunch at around 2 pm.

Quite immediately, his PA waved his brace in front of his face and he reluctantly put it on.  
As he made his way over to the trailers, Sue came by to ask him what he wanted to eat and to tell him that they would meet in his trailer to discuss how to proceed.  
Painfully slowly, Ben made his way up to his trailer, happy though that nobody had followed him.  
They were all being very nice and supportive but he just needed a little break from that. In his trailer he propped up his leg and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. He tried to forget the pain that was becoming more and more throbbing but shrieked up when Sue knocked on his door and came in, directly followed by Mark and Steven while all of them were carrying plates of food.  
Ben slowly attempted to stand up to go over to the table but fell back unto the sofa but quickly Mark took his arm and dragged him upright.  
“Thanks but really not necessary” was all Ben could mutter before Mark maneuvered him to the table and pressed him onto a chair.  
“Ben, it is alright if you are in pain and you can call today off any minute.” Sue said tentatively placing her hand over his.  
“No, it is okay. I just have to take it slowly.” Ben answered.  
“So what is the plan for the rest of the shoot?” Ben asked in an attempt to draw the attention away from his misery.  
“Well, we thought we would change the scene where Sherlock is talking to that girl to having you sit down and the chase through the castle we will keep, but we already called your double to come in. We will film him from the back and you just have to do the speaking and then arrive with Martin in the tower.  
That alright with you?” Steven asked while already diving into his chicken dish. “Yeah, I suppose I don’t have any other change but to accept it do I?” Ben said but look a bit happier as they had found a solution without him ruining the whole series.  
“And besides, we only have five scenes or so to go and then just some little things but that should work” Mark added and when the three of them left Ben alone half an hour later, he was feeling better and not so guilty.

He would only be filming again in the afternoon and made his way to the sofa again to re-read his line and maybe doze off a little.  
He was really tired and the last few days were starting to take its toll. When he woke up after a little nap he felt much better and not as drowsie as he had before.  
Then filming that afternoon went well and the whole crew had a lot of fun as Martin was in a particularly good mood and made faces and hilarious comments to lighten the mood.  
When Ben’s cab pulled up in front of his house, he could just see the front door closing and the light being turned on which meant that Alexa had just come home.  
Ben looked at his watch and realized that is was already past 9 o’clock.  
He thought that Alexa would be absolutely exhausted and quickly found out that his deduction had been correct. When he came in, he found her sitting on a chair in the hall, her eyes closed and her head leant at the wall.  
“Hey sweetie, long day huh?” he asked tentatively and without even opening an eye she only sighed in response. Nevertheless, she dragged herself upright as he came hobbling closer and slung her arms around his neck. “And you? My brave Sherlock Holmes?” she teased.  
“Not too bad actually. It went quite well” “Good. How is the knee? Any more swelling?” she asked, looking down at his leg.  
“Nah, just a bit and it has been okay. Nothing I could not endure” he said proudly. “Idiot” was the only response he got and then he followed her into the kitchen.  
Since none of them had managed to go shopping in the last days, they ate the leftover Chinese take out and then all but collapsed into bed. Alexa did not let herself fall asleep so quickly though without checking on Ben and his knee as he came out of the shower.  
“Well, the swelling has worsened a bit but not as much as I would have though” she noted dryly as she started massaging his knee. “It is alright, I will live. But what about you? Are you okay?” he said and cast a concerned glance in her direction.  
He had noticed that she was limping too, not very badly though because he knew she was totally trying to hide it from him.  
“Mhh. Yeah, I am fine. Why do you ask?” she said in a voice that just showed him very clearly that she wanted to hide something.  
“You don’t look fine, to be honest. And you are limping, too. Don’t think I did not notice.” He said as he slowly started massaging her back.  
The tender movement made her take the sock off her right foot and she showed Ben a huge hematoma that was stretching from her heel to her metatarsals.  
“I fell down the stairs at the hospital. I was running and it was wet and the next second I was a heap on the floor.”  
“And you did not have time to get it checked out, nor to rest and put some ice on it?” Ben asked carefully.  
“Nope, I was on my way to surgery when it happened but it is nothing, just some bruising that will be gone in a few days. Don’t worry about it” she said with a dry smile.  
“I do worry about it, and about you. Maybe we should take some time off soon. Do nothing for a few days.  
I think we both need some healing time huh?” he answered pulling her closer to him. “You are probably right.  
I will see what I can do. But for now, I will get you some ice for that knee” she said and started to get up. “Alexa” Ben said holding her back “I want you to take care of yourself too okay? Get yourself some ice too!” he almost ordered her.  
She only nodded and made an attempt not to limp that was not very successful. When she came back, Ben took her foot onto his lap and started massaging it just as she had been doing it with his knee. When he looked up, he saw her fast asleep and only threw a blanket over her before cuddling into his pillows, too.

The next morning, the both did not have to be at work until midday and so they enjoyed lying in bed for a while.  
Both their bodies had desperately needed a full night of sleep and they made a deal to both not over do it at work although Alexa quietly thought that it would almost be impossible for her as people in the hospital seldomly cared about how their doctors were feeling.  
When Alexa had come out of the shower, Ben had laid out a bandage and some tape and eventually convinced Alexa that a stabilising bandage on her foot would not hurt.  
Ben put in on as he had quite some experience from numerous injuries he acquired when filming or doing sports.  
Alexa was too proud to admit but that sprain was really nagging and the timing to inappropriate. She was supposed to help Ben, not the opposite way around but it was actually quite nice to be in that situation together, she thought and Ben had just the same idea.

When they both hobbled out of their house, they promised to be careful and went their separate ways to work.  
When Alexa stepped out of her office at the hospital in a clean lab coat , she almost bumped into Lynn, a good friend of hers and Ben who was also a consultant. “Hey you” she greeted her cheerfully.  
“So since you still have some time until shift starts, what about I take a look at this foot of yours” and without even waiting for an answer she dragged Alexa back into her office and had already pushed her down onto a chair before she could even protest.  
When Lynn kneeled in front of her and took her shoe off, all Alexa could say was “Ben” and she was not even annoyed by his care. “Jup, he called me in the morning telling me to definitively check on you as you were probably not taking well enough care. And from what I can see here” she said loudly as Alexa wanted to interrupt  
“he is perfectly right. I mean come one, not even a proper brace? And why the hell did you not say anything yesterday? We were standing in the OR for hours together.  
You could have at least sat down or something” said went on as she examined Alexa’s foot that was starting to swell.  
“I could not, I was working and that always is my number one priority, and you know that. Please, there is no fracture or anything at all that won’t heal in a few days. “  
she trailed off. “Indeed, it does not seem broken but we should get an X-Ray, just in case.”  
“Nope, not gonna happen, absolutely not. I have work to do” Alexa protested but Lynn did not let her go that easily.  
“Alright, but you won’t be standing in an OR for hours again. And you should elevate and rest it and not run around on it” she reminded Alexa.  
“You would never allow a patient to do this.” “Yes, I know, doctors make the worst patients. And I will be good, I will get a chair for surgery.” She smiled.  
“That is not what I meant” Lynn said angrily “but as you won’t reason with me, just let me get this properly bandaged. Okay?” “Yeah, just do it. Thank you”  
“No problem, wait here, I will be back soon” she told Alexa as she was already out of the door to look for supplies. Later that day, Alexa had to admit that although she had felt much better with Lynn’s bandage that was very tight and almost like a cast and did not allow her to hide her limping so much, her foot was quite painful but she still had work to do and so she set her mind to other things.

On the other side of London, Ben and Martin had almost finished their filming for the day and were now doing their last dialogue where Sherlock is supposed to pace up and down the hall. “Ben, if you can’t do it you just can’t. There is no good to it when you force it” he had heard Mark say before he carefully removed the brace and tentatively put some weight on his leg.  
“It is alright, I can manage” he hissed between clenched teeth as he took a few steps where he managed to hide the limp almost entirely.  
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let us starts now and get it done in one shot so we don’t have to repeat it over and over got it?” Mark shouted and instantaneously, the whole crew focused and 15 minutes later, the last scene of the day had been filmed and Ben was pushed down into his chair.  
He had mastered his Sherlock Holmes walk but it had been more difficult this time. Difficult but not impossible and as he watched the filming with Martin later, he was pretty satisfied with his performance.  
Less satisfying was, that his knee was hurting very badly now and that it had swollen so much, that the brace was now fastened too tightly and was cutting into his leg.  
He loosed it a bit which helped a little. When Steven came over, he looked rather concerned. “Ben, we think you should take the weekend off. We still have some shooting without you to do and Alexa says you need to rest and not aggravate the injury” he trailed off, remembering that he had not been supposed to say that he had talked to her.  
“So you called Alexa, mhh alright, you are probably right but you did not tell her I walked on it today, did you?”  
“Hell no. Your lady is sweet but she can be vicious. I don’t want her all over me for letting you do that. Would not end well for either of us, Ben” he chuckeled.  
“True, she will notice though. And she will know. But you know what, she hurt her foot yesterday and should really not be working with a foot that is more blue and green than anything else. But does she listen to me? No.” Ben complained. “Well” Steven laughed ”you did not exactly listen to her either, and she even is real doctor so she knows what she is saying” and with that he clapped Ben on the shoulder and trailed off.  
Ben knew that he was right, and that he and Alexa too, should stay off their legs a few days and he was secretly happy to have the weekend off.  
He did not like to take painkillers and so he had not since the accident. When his cab finally dropped him off at home, he was glad Alexa was not there yet so he could have a chance to do something for her and so called their favorite restaurant and ordered Alexa’s favorite lasagna for them and set the table nicely which was quite a challenge when someone is on crutches.  
Alexa came home just minutes after their dinner had come in and Ben was so happy to see her again that it seemed to him they had not met in days. “I love you honey” he whispered into her ear when he hugged her tightly and it was a sign how worn out she was that she did not even say anything about the table and that he should have better sat down but just plopped down in her chair, propped her foot up on the same chair as Ben’s leg was resting and then the two of them enjoyed their meal together.


	3. Chapter 3

The next two days were rather special for Ben and Alexa since they both did not have to work and that did not happen often.  
And they made good use of their days off as they slept long and cuddled in bed for a while after waking up.  
When they had both gotten ready for the day and were clinging to cups of tea, they again rested both their injured legs on the same chair and just had to laugh really hard. 

“I mean, just look at us. We look like we are eighty and judging from what happened to us, we could be" she blurted out. "True" gasped Ben while he was still trying to catch his breath. "Our accidents were even similar, we both fell down stairs. If that is no sight for love, then I don't know what is" Ben laughed as he closely hugged Alexa. He was really a lucky man to have found her.  
"But on the serious side Ben" Alexa started as she had recovered from her laughing fit "we need to talk about your surgery and set a date. This is better done as soon as the swelling goes down" she said and already started to get up to fetch both their calendars.  
"Always the serious one he? Killing all the fun" Ben sighed. "Always" was Alexa smiled at him when she limped out of the room to her study.  
When she came back, she not only had brought their calendars but also her tablet and after they had set a date for the surgery that was a few days after the official end of filming for Ben, Alexa started explaining the surgery to him and what would be done and why.  
"That looks so weird. And that is the inside of a knee?" Ben asked as they were watching a video of the surgery online.  
"Jep it is. And here is the torn ligament" Alexa explained and tapped on the screen to maximize the picture.  
"Very cool." Ben said. "I am almost a bit jealous that you get to do all these great things at work. It looks very interesting indeed".  
"It is or why do you think I spend six years studying for it and another six training for it? It is great but..." she trailed of. "Sure, I know. It is exhausting and grueling and you work the craziest hours. But I am very glad you decided to do it." he whispered as he gave her a kiss on the forehead.  
"Of course you are." Alexa laughed and threw a cushion at him. "Otherwise you would be dead by now. Just remember all the times I had to patch you up-" but she could say no more as Ben had hit her with a cushion right in the stomach so that she fell backwards onto the sofa.  
After a few minutes, they were really exhausted from their little fight and decided that they should eat something since they had not had breakfast and lunch hour was passed as well.

"You know" Alexa yelled from the kitchen where she was looking for food "we don't seem to have anything in the pantry but a few cans of canned tomatoes."  
"Not even pasta or anything" Ben asked as he hobbled into the kitchen as well to get a better look.  
"Nope, not really. I think we can't put shopping off again" Alexa sighed.  
"You are right" Ben said sitting down at the kitchen table "But I won't let you go alone. You are not exactly on top of your game either"  
"True but you should really not move around so much" she tried to persuade him.  
"Yes and I won't. I will just come to the store with you and that is it. The rest of the day I will be a good boy and elevate it and do whatever you want me to" he promised.  
"Really? Whatever I want?" Alexa asked teasingly. "Fine, you can come. Lets get ready then" she said pushing herself up from her chair and a few minutes later they already were at the store just down the road.  
Ben had insisted they walk because he did not want Alexa to drive because of her foot, at least that was what he had told her. He just wanted to get some fresh air into his lungs, move around a bit and was quite happy that she agreed.

They quickly did all their shopping and were on their way back when they heard a voice behind them yelling their names. It was Terry, an old classmate of Ben that lived just a few roads away.  
"Hey guys." he greeted them cheerily. "Hey Terry, how are you?" Alexa asked as she hugged him.  
"I am good but what the hell happened to you? Why are you on crutches and you limping?" he asked worriedly and slowed down his pace as he walked with them towards their house. "Old Benny did not get in a bar fight again did he?" he grinned.  
"Haha no, I did not. We both slipped down some stairs at work. No big deal. But what about you? How is Joanne?" Ben said in an attempt to change the topic.  
"Ahh, not so easy. The two of you, getting injured at the same time? How cute fro a couple. Now you can even go to the doctor together" Terry laughed just as his phone started to ring.  
"Sorry guys, I need to take this. But see you soon, alright? Take care of yourselves" he said already changing directions.

"Terry is quite a guy, huh?" Ben asked as they had almost reached their home. He knew that Alexa did not like him very much and always tried to be diplomatic.  
"Yeah, he is. What a shame he could not come in for tea" she laughed.  
In that moment they saw a man with a camera run nearer to them and him taking tons of photos of them.  
"Ahh shit. These paparazzi again" Ben muttered under his breath as they sped up their steps and soon entered the safety of their own house.  
"Yes, I know. Sorry, sweetie" Alexa said, trying to calm him.  
"Don't worry, they would have found out soon any way. Besides, it was not your fault" Ben smiled down at her.  
After they had stacked away all their shopping, the started cooking pasta together and soon the whole kitchen smelled wonderful.  
But after eating, the both were pretty tired and realized, how worn out they actually were.  
"I mean, what have we done today?" Alexa yawned as she made herself comfortable on the sofa.  
"Well, we got up, talked, set a date for the thing, went shopping, and cooked. So quite a bit I would say" he chuckled but this soon turned into a groan as he shifted his leg awkwardly.  
Alexa cast him a stern look but all Ben replied as a soft "mhhh" as he slumped down into the pillows and pretended to be asleep already.  
Alexa did not buy that of course but she was so tired too, that she only shook her head with a dry smile on her face and closed her eyes, too.

The rest of the weekend mostly consisted of sleeping, reading, and elevating their injured legs but both had several phone calls on Sunday to schedule the next days.  
Ben talked to Mark and Steven and texted with Martin about his leg and the remaining scenes they had to shoot. These were luckily not many so they should be done by Wednesday, which was the official end of shooting.  
Mark had told Ben about his and Seven's plans and they had decided to re-write some scenes so Ben would not have to run around but so that he could sit and let the rest of his body speak.  
Ben was pretty happy about it because he had not ruined the whole series as he had feared at first.

Alexa had also talked to Lynn, whom she would never had called but luckily, Lynn was very caring and had already arranged for Alexa to be doing mostly surgeries the next week so that she could sit down. This had been very kind and Alexa and Ben were both happy, that they were working with such great people who wanted to make life as comfortable and easy for them as possible.


	4. How life goes on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filming is almost done and after a much needed relaxing weekend Benedict is determined to give his very best.

Making his way over to Martin's car who had offered to pick Ben up, he could already hear a Barbie song blasting in the car. He started chuckling and quickly got into the car.   
"Now now, Mr. Freeman, what have we got here?? Did you become Kent overnight??" Ben laughed at Martin and winked at Martin's little daughter sitting in the back.   
"Sure, Cumberbatch, sure. You know, having kids you have to make sacrifices. And today I had to surrender. That right, Lissie? You are the one making the decisions here..."  
"Right, daddy!! Ben, Ben know what??" "NO, what?" "I lost my first tooth! And the tooth fairy brought my that CD!! Isn't that just great??" Lissie shrieked in Ben's ear. "It sure is! You are a big girl now" Ben smiled at here. 

He loved Martin's kids and spending time with them was always so much fun. When Martin and Amanda couldn't find someone to watch them, they had even brought them to the set on occasion. Having little kids run among film crew and stunt people brought quite some energy and fresh wind onto the set. 

They quickly brought Martin's daughter to her daycare and then headed off to their location just outside of London.   
"You look much better than the last day, Ben. Did you have a few restful days?"  
"Yes, we did. We didn't really do anything all weekend and that was pretty good for us. Alexa really needed a few good nights sleep" he added in a loving tone. "From what I have seen of you lately, you needed the sleep, too!" Martin laughed and Ben grinned at him from the side. "True, but Alexa has been working so much lately. She leaves before 5 am and comes home not before 8 or 9 pm. And she does not eat well, I really have to look out for her...." he trailed off. "Mhh, sounds like you really should. Just let me know if you need anything alright?" he offered as they pulled up in front of the set. 

"And here it starts, look at the lot. All excited for the last days..." Ben smiled as he heaved himself out of the car. But it was true, a certain amount of excitement and finality hung around the set as it always did on the last days of filming. Before they could start filming though, Ben had to go through one of his scenes because Sherlock is supposed to spray paint on a wall. Naturally, being to well behaved boy he always was, Ben had no clue of how to operate a spray paint bottle. 

"Just press down here and hold it straight, then you can just spray on the wall and be done with it." Guss, one of the assistants advised him.   
"Okay, let me try" Ben said holding out his hand. He did manage quite well until, to everyone's delight, the bottle slipped and the famous Benedict Cumberbatch now has a yellow streak on his pants and knee brace.   
"Oh well, shit happens, right?" Ben laughed. "But I should be okay with the paint, I think. Thanks guys." he said turning around and hobbling toward make up. 

Luckily, he survived the day without painting anything other than the wall and even the weather held and they did not get pouring wet. And they got quite some shooting done, too. Sherlock mostly had to stand or sit around and bark orders and the little walking he had to do, Ben managed rather well. It is true, his knee did swell up a little but not as much as the previous days and he was not in so much pain.

"Am I standing up straight?" he asked with a concerned look as they watched the day's material.   
"Yeah, that's alright. You can barely see it. Don't worry about it mate, you did really well." Alan, their camera operator told him and slapped him encouragingly on the arm.  
"Seriously, Ben. Everyone would have understood if you had called filming off entirely and no one blames you for anything. You are doing really great, as always and don't worry. Really. " he said sweetly. "Thanks man, I don't want to be anyone's burden" Ben answered, then settle back into his chair to watch the rest of the scenes they had filmed that day.

He called Alexa around 5 pm to ask about her plans and how she was. He only had a little work to do and hoped it would be similar for her.   
"Hello daring. Everything alright with you?" Ben asked sweetly.  
"Yes, Ben. Listen, I am on my way to surgery right now, we just had a major bus crash. So it will be a while. I won't be home anytime soon." she hurriedly told him all the while barking orders to someone else.   
"Do you have to do this? Is your foot holding on?!" he asked concerned.   
"Look, Ben. It will be fine. But I have to go now, sorry. Don't wait for me, I might sleep here tonight. Love you" and with that she was gone.   
"Alexa, Alexa?!" Ben shouted into his phone but she had already hung up. 

"Hey, what's going on? Everything ok?" Mark asked.  
"I don't know. Alexa isn't really well but work is consuming her again."  
"Ah, don't worry. She knows when it's too much. She will be just fine. and you, you'll have tonight off I guess?" he said grinning at him.  
"I hope so. And yeah, she probably won't be home in a while, why?" Ben asked, knowing exactly what was on Mark's mind.  
"Listen everyone. End Of Filming drinks tonight!! Meeting at the gate at 8:30 pm. Everybody tag along!" he yelled and a round of loud cheers erupted from the team.   
"I guess I don't have any other chance than to come" Ben smiled knowingly at Mark.  
"Absolutely not. But come on, they want to do some close ups of you and Martin for the spraying scene."  
And with these words they started working again, Martin finding it very hard to keep a straight face at Ben who had smeared yellow paint on his forehead. Though he had practised, spraying didn't go very well for him but they decided to keep the spot of yellow, even Sherlock Holmes can be messy sometimes.   
As the afternoon, went on, it got colder and colder and the jokes Martin told the crew got dirtier and dirtier by the minute. Everyone was all smiles and in a great mood as they headed off to their favourite pub in Soho all crammed into a few cars. Soon, they were not freezing anymore but almost cuddling on the back bench which made them happy to be spilled onto the street in front of the pub. 

Ben texted Alexa a couple of times but only got an answer at 11 pm as Julius, one of the most beloved set designers had attempted a handstand and was now a laughing heap on the floor. Half laughing about him, half worried for Alexa he read her text "Just finished surgery. Have a few more patients in E&A and then a lot of post ops and paper work. Could be a while. Are you enjoying your evening? I just got this from Martin :)". Ben quickly looked up the pic and saw that Martin had send her a photo of the heap Julius now was. He quickly answered "We are having a good time but you need to slow down! Sit down, have a bite to eat and find someone to take over for you. I am serious. Or I will come and fetch you myself".   
He only got an answer a couple minutes later, probably after she had treated yet another patient "I am fine, really. And there is no one to take over. Don't worry about me. Enjoy!"

Ben sighed, he knew this side of her and was not always happy for it. Alexa often got so absorbed in her job that she totally neglected her own needs. She had once collapsed after having stood in an OR for nine hours after an twenty hour shift. He loved that she was truly made to be a doctor and that it was really her passion but sometimes it was hard on her, physically and mentally, and on their relationship. They both sometimes worked crazy and totally uncontrollable hours and it was hard to even be in the house at the same time. But it was true what Alexa had said a few days earlier, if she wasn't a doctor, Ben would never see one. He did not like admitting personal weakness and being so sick that he needed to go to the doctor who would make him stay at home certainly counted as just that. But sometimes he heated to hospital Alexa worked in because they made her work long hours, no breaks and rarely a moment to take care of yourself.

"Ehh, Ben what's the matter with you? Cheer up a little will ya?" Martin scowled in his ear and Ben realised that he must have looked a bit pathetic just staring into the air and contemplating life.   
Someone, by the sound of it Guss, had started to sing 'Rule Britannia' and soon everyone in the pub started to sing along. As the night dragged on, it got jollier and jollier and at some point Ben's crutches were kidnapped and danced on and many embarrassing photos were taken, mostly of every single person trying to balance an olive on the tip of their nose. Only Leah, Martin's PA managed to balance hers. That brought her a few drinks and many impressed looks. 

When they were the only guests left and the bar tender started cleaning up, it was time to leave and Ben took a cab home after having made sure all other people either got picked up or safely into a cab. Glad of the silence in the car, Ben closed his eyes and checked his phone again. Besides the ton of photos from that night, he did not have any new messages, none from Alexa.   
In a second, he decided to give her a call.  
"Hello" he heard her tied voice.   
"Hey, are you done yet? I am just on my way home" he said sensing she was not very well.   
"Yeah, I was just finishing up, but the next tube doesn't come until 5 am so I might as well stay here...." she trailed off, yawning.  
"No you won't. I'll come pick you up. Be there in 15." he said all the while telling the cabbie to turn around and go to UCL.  
"Ok, I have a little paper work to do and then I have to change. But I'll hurry. East entrance?"  
"Sure, take your time, we will wait." he assured her.   
"You are great, love you." she muttered.   
"Love you too, see you" he whispered, glad that she could finally stop and go home with him.

Whenever he was enjoying himself or "working" by going to galas and screening and Alexa was working hard, running around all day, treating all sots of injuries and trying to make the people around her feel happy, he got uncomfortable and felt guilty. She worked to hard and others sometimes don't really value that the way they should.   
When they arrived at the hospital, he told the cabbie to wait and hobbled into A&E, stopping a nurse to ask her about Alexa's whereabouts.   
"I think she just headed to her office to change, you can wait for her here" she said pointing to some chairs.  
"Thank you very much. Have a good shift" he thanked her, only receiving a dry smile as she hurried off again. 

Since he did not want to walk up the stairs or block the elevator, he waited in the hall. After only a few minutes, Alexa appeared at the end of the hallway, carrying a stack of charts in her arms and slowly, very slowly made her way towards him.   
She was limping and looked pale and worn out. But she cast him a broad smile and seemed very glad to see him.   
"I just need to drop some of these off real quick and then I am done" she said before planting a kiss on his cheek and walking to the counter and handing some of the charts off to a nurse sitting there and making a list of instructions for the night.   
"And call me should anything happen, right?" she instructed.  
"Don't call her if you can help it, please." Ben said, suddenly standing behind her and placing a hand on her back.  
The nurse nodded in agreement, smiling at them and wishing them a good night, or whatever was left of that.

**Author's Note:**

> I had been looking for a sickfic like that for ages and then just decided to write one myself. Please feel free to leave feedback!!


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